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Books for Keeps 222 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 222 - January 2017
BfK 222 January 2017

This issue’s cover illustration is from Margot and Me by Juno Dawson. Thanks to Hot Key Books for their help with this January cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 222 January 2017 .

BfK No. 222 Articles

Editorial 222

Predictions for the year ahead from those in education, children's books and libraries
What to read in 2017

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
What to read in 2017 continued

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
The books to read in 2017 continued

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
Windows into Illustration: Laura Carlin

Laura Carlin on The Promise
Authorgraph 222 Juno Dawson

Juno Dawson interviewed by Michelle Pauli
Ten of the Best Children's Books written as Diaries

Children’s books written as diaries chosen by Nikki Gamble
Dissecting Frogs

Elys Dolan on being funny in pictures
Two Children Tell: In Which Pooh Is Introduced To Rebecca And Nicholas

The latest in Virginia Lowe's series on children, literature and language
I Wish I’d Written: Cathryn Constable

The best-selling author of The Wolf Princess and The White Tower series chooses a book that still entrances.
The Bone Sparrow: a contemporary tragedy

An interview with Zana Fraillon
Good Reads 222

Good Reads selected by pupils at Southbrook School, Devon
The evolution of the children’s mystery story

Imogen Russell Williams plays detective
A Carey Variorum

Brian Alderson on Ronald Welch’s action-packed series
AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH LAIRD

Elizabeth Laird talks about her new book Welcome to Nowhere
Babette Cole Obituary

Nicholas Tucker remembers the creator of Princess Smartypants and Hair in Funny Places
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH AMY WILSON

An interview with the author of A Girl Called Owl
Classics in Short No. 120 Bevis

Bevis the Story of a Boy

AN INTERVIEW WITH AWARD WINNING TRANSLATOR HELEN WANG

Daniel Hahn interviews Helen Wang, winner of the 2017 Marsh Award for Literature in Translation
Q&A INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE BURGIS

The author answers questions on The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER EDGE

The author talks about his new book The Jamie Drake Equation.

Editor's Choice

Bone Gap
Laura Ruby
(Faber & Faber)
5

Bone Gap is an astonishing, complex and captivating read. It’s one of those books that’s difficult to put down; you just want to keep reading, savouring the story, to find out what happens.  Set in a tiny village in Illinois...

read more

New Talent

Wing Jones
Katherine Webber
(Walker Books)
4

Wing idolises her brother Marcus. He is the star of the school football team and destined for a scholarship. She herself is a mouse, bullied at school for her mixed race convinced she is no good and longing to be noticed by Aaron. Then tragedy...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 222

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+

Under 5s

  • Home in the rain
    Bob Graham
    5

  • Time Now to Dream
    Timothy Knapman
    5

  • A Dot in the Snow
    Corinne Averiss
    4

  • Macavity’s Not There!
    T S Eliot
    4

  • Little Monkey
    Marta Altés
    4

  • Topsy Turvy Animals
    Wes Magee
    3

Ages 5-8

  • A Visit to City Farm
    Verna Wilkins
    5

  • Du Iz Tak?
    Carson Ellis
    5

  • The Journey
    Francesca Sanna
    5

  • Three Little Monkeys
    Quentin Blake
    5

  • The Liszts
    Kyo Maclear
    4

  • Where’s the Baboon?
    Michaël Escoffier
    4

  • Trouble Next Door
    Chris Higgins
    4

  • Zoo Boy and the Jewel Thieves
    Sophie Thompson
    3

  • This Bear, That Bear
    Sian Wheatcroft
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Stone Age: Hunters, Gatherers and Woolly Mammoths
    5

  • A Year Full of Stories
    Angela McAllister
    5

  • Caleb’s Cab
    Sally Chomet
    5

  • The Amazing Adventures of Freddie Whitemouse
    Elizabeth Jane Howard
    4

  • How to Catch a Witch
    Abie Longstaff
    4

  • Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond
    Sam Hearn
    4

  • Trouble Next Door
    Chris Higgins
    4

  • The Fox and the Ghost King
    Michael Morpurgo
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Wed Wabbit
    Lissa Evans
    5

  • The Girl with No Nose
    Georgia Byng
    5

  • Welcome to Nowhere
    Elizabeth Laird
    4

  • Wing Jones
    Katherine Webber
    4

  • Animal! Knowledge Encyclopedia
    John Woodward
    4

  • Life In A Fishbowl
    4

  • The Goldfish Boy
    Lisa Thompson
    4

  • A Girl Called Owl
    Amy Wilson
    4

Ages 14+

  • Girl Detached
    Manuela Salvi
    5

  • Bone Gap
    Laura Ruby
    5

  • A Quiet Kind of Thunder
    Sara Barnard
    5

  • The One Memory of Flora Banks
    Emily Barr
    5

  • Orangeboy
    Patrice Lawrence
    4

  • Our Chemical Hearts
    Krystal Sutherland
    4

  • And a happy New Year?
    Holly Bourne
    4

  • Unconventional
    Maggie Harcourt
    3

BfK News

HOOD, RUNDELL AND REYNOLDS UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

Morag Hood, Katherine Rundell and Jason Reynolds have been announced as the winners of the UKLA Book Awards 2019 for I Am Bat, The Explorer and Long Way Down respectively.

read more...
CATHERINE JOHNSON WINS LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) is delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Catherine Johnson for her book, Freedom (Scholastic 2018).

Catherine Johnsonn photo Andy Donohoe

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CRESSIDA COWELL ANNOUNCED AS NEW WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

‘Books are transformative because of their unique ability to develop three key magical powers: intelligence, creativity and, most important of all, empathy. Words are power; let’s take magic seriously.’ Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

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STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

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MUHAMMAD KHAN WINS 20TH BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut novel for children is Muhammad Khan for his YA novel I Am Thunder. Set up in memory of author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase who both died in 1999, the award also recognizes his editor Lucy Pearse of Macmillan Children’s Books.

read more...
SLA School Librarian of the Year 2019 Announced

Ros Harding School Librarian of the Year

Ros Harding of The King’s School Chester has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2019. 2019 YA Book Prize winner Sara Barnard presented Ros Harding with her award at a special ceremony at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington, London Kensington on 27 June.

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The Children's Book Award 2019

Earlier this month, Arree Chung was named overall winner of The Children’s Book Award 2019. His book Mixed, which he wrote and illustrated, also won the Books for Younger Children category before going on to win the overall prize.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced at a ceremony at The British Library, hosted by broadcaster and writer Konnie Huq.

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BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

The children’s authors to watch: shortlist for the 2019 Branford Boase Award announced

Branford Boase Award shortlist 2019

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THE YEAR'S BEST POETRY FOR CHILDREN: CLiPPA 2019 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2019 shortlist for their poetry award, CLiPPA (The Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Children’s poetry is booming and there were a record number of entries for the CLiPPA, the only award for children’s poetry.

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